Yes, my band Gradient of Disorder is still around, more than 20 years to be precise. Because our anniversary was during my UK stay, the commemorative show had to wait, but soon it will be time:
Stay epic!
To the surprise of nobody, I do like roguelite RPGs. I recently recommended Slay the Spire, for example. Now, I did find another game like that, Menace from the Deep. It is fundamentally a StS clone, but does a few nice spins on the game mechanics and uses a Lovecraftian setting to distinguish itself.
Autumn is coming, and that means it is time to make fun of ignorance. The "Goldenes Brett vorm Kopf" is a yearly satirical award for anti-science and esoteric bullshit and will happen again on the 25.10.2025 at the Stadtsaal Wien.
Get tickets for you and your friends/family to have a great time! If you cannot attend, there will also be a live stream.
My stay abroad has come to an end, and with that, I have completed my podcast "Epic Adventures UK". After listener feedback, it is not only available on Spotify, but has an RSS feed and is available on Youtube as well.
What have I learned from my podcast? That speaking for 20-30 minutes is harder work than it looks like, especially if you cut out silence and random sounds. That software tools might lose your data, even if they are apparently backuped. That proper preparation is essential.
This project is complete anyways, and I do not intend to continue podcasting as I do not have any brilliant ideas and cannot commit enough time to get "professional" anyways. But overall, it was an interesting experience.
Stay epic!
This time, I want to talk about a museum! During my UK travels, I could enjoy a special one twice: The Royal Armouries in Leeds. As an armoury, its collection are weapons and armour from all over the world, mainly from the medieval period onwards.
It does a great job to not only show heaps of metal, but to explain and contextualise their pieces, including opportunities to touch. Next to a focus on British military guns and jousting, it does have stuff from all around the world, including this:
Stay epic!
Games within games have been a staple of the RPG genre, probably with Witcher 3's Gwent as the most popular example. Back in the olden days, for me this rather was Arcomage, the tavern game of Migh & Magic 7.
Remember when webcomics were a new thing? When upcoming artists filled creative niches in a bubbling cauldron of stories and gags? Well, that was 20-25 years ago. But some of these projects are still around, not new things anymore, but creations with a history.
The top spot of all of these in my heart belongs to the Order of the Stick. Started in 2003 and still going on in its last great story acrt over 1300 strips later, it is a story-driven, humourous comic about D&D 3.5. Which is the D&D I played most, but does date it a bit.
Starting as a lighthearted parody, it has since turned into a story about the fate of its world. Its compelling story, featuring a cast of awesome and deep characters including one of the best paladin depictions ever, has kept me enthralled for over two decades.
As the main comics are all available online, with only a few prequels and side stories gated behind print or Kickstarter projects, you are only one click away from joining the Order of the Stick's quest.
Stay epic,
Gilbert